Tag: michael bisping

Earlier this week during an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre dropped a bit of news regarding his upcoming title shot against middleweight champion Michael Bisping. According to “GSP,” if he ends up winning the title then he is contractually obligated to defend the 185 pound belt […]

Earlier this week during an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre dropped a bit of news regarding his upcoming title shot against middleweight champion Michael Bisping. According to “GSP,” if he ends up winning the title then he is contractually obligated to defend the 185 pound belt instead of going in search of other big money fights.

No doubt, it is a big revelation due to the fact that members of St-Pierre’s own team had mentioned possible fights with Nick Diaz and Conor McGregor. If he would have to live up to his obligation then he would have to interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker next.

During Tuesday’s episode of his Believe You Me podcast (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting), Bisping reacted to St-Pierre’s revelation.

“All that stops Georges from doing – Georges is still in the position of power, much as I don’t like to admit that. Listen, I’m fighting GSP and I have a fan base and people like to watch me fight or people like to see me get knocked out. Win or lose, people do tune in. But GSP is a big name and he brings the huge Canadian market with him and that’s what the UFC are after. They want all those Canadians to start buying the Pay-Per-Views again. From what I’m hearing, Pay-Per-View sales in Canada haven’t been doing too well lately so they want GSP to come back and they want all those people, all those lumberjacks to start buying the Pay-Per-Views again.

“If, God forbid, he beats me, he has it in the contract that he has to fight Robert Whittaker. But he can retire. He can retire if he wants. They cannot force you to fight. So let’s say he was to say, ‘I retire’ and then say, ‘Hey, listen, I’ll come out of retirement to fight at 170 [pounds]. UFC, do you want to sell all those Pay-Per-Views again, yes or no? It’s up to you.’ So really . . . one would assume that he can really do what he wants. They can’t force him to fight.”

Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale – USA TODAY Sports

Keep in mind that although the UFC cannot legally force St-Pierre to fight. Instead, they do have the right to strip him of his title if he refuses to fight the contender they deem next in line for him to face. This situation just played out with Germaine de Randamie. Bisping did admit that GSP does bring more attention and more money than he does. Thus, he understands that UFC would likely be willing to do even more for St-Pierre than they did for him.

“[St-Pierre]’s in the position of power, really. Of course Dana’s the promoter, the UFC are the promoters but we’re the fighters and GSP has that Canadian market that buys Pay-Per-Views. Unfortunately for me, I’ve got a fantastic following in the U.K. – I have a great following and God bless you all – but the way it’s structured in the U.K., we get the UFC for free. There’s no Pay-Per-View so there’s limited – it’s a big attraction to the UFC to have the U.K. market but to have the Canadian market that has a history of buying Pay-Per-Views, you pay for the UFC in Canada so that’s more beneficial to the UFC.”

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is a man who is clearly on a mission ahead of his return from injury Rockhold will make his first appearance inside the octagon since his knockout loss to Michael Bisping at UFC 199 in June 2016. Rockhold, still clearly seething at that loss, must make it past a […]

Former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is a man who is clearly on a mission ahead of his return from injury Rockhold will make his first appearance inside the octagon since his knockout loss to Michael Bisping at UFC 199 in June 2016. Rockhold, still clearly seething at that loss, must make it past a […]

Returning UFC legend Georges St-Pierre responded to fans who claim he is scared of welterweight champion Tyron Woodley According to GSP, he is scared of everyone – he just fights regardless. St-Pierre is set to return to the promotion which made him a legend. Despite fans waiting longer than initially anticipated, “GSP” makes his return […]

Returning UFC legend Georges St-Pierre responded to fans who claim he is scared of welterweight champion Tyron Woodley According to GSP, he is scared of everyone – he just fights regardless. St-Pierre is set to return to the promotion which made him a legend. Despite fans waiting longer than initially anticipated, “GSP” makes his return […]

UFC interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker is happy to wait for Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre to trash it out Despite the will they/won’t they bout now looking close to being finalized, Whittaker feels that regardless of the result, his path is still obstacle free: “It’s worked in my favor with that fight being scheduled,” […]

UFC interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker is happy to wait for Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre to trash it out Despite the will they/won’t they bout now looking close to being finalized, Whittaker feels that regardless of the result, his path is still obstacle free: “It’s worked in my favor with that fight being scheduled,” […]

Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre gets his shot at history this November when he challenges Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight title. St-Pierre, who announced plans to return to active competition earlier this year, will face Bisping at UFC 217 on November 4 from Madison Square Garden. Finally signing my UFC 217 Bout Agreement […]

Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre gets his shot at history this November when he challenges Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight title. St-Pierre, who announced plans to return to active competition earlier this year, will face Bisping at UFC 217 on November 4 from Madison Square Garden. Finally signing my UFC 217 Bout Agreement […]

Georges St-Pierre has finally signed the bout agreement for his long-rumored UFC return against Michael Bisping. The longtime former welterweight champion, who has been out of action since his highly controversial split decision over Johny Hendricks at November 2013’s UFC 167, has been in talks to fight Michael Bisping for the 185-pound title since early […]

Georges St-Pierre has finally signed the bout agreement for his long-rumored UFC return against Michael Bisping.

The longtime former welterweight champion, who has been out of action since his highly controversial split decision over Johny Hendricks at November 2013’s UFC 167, has been in talks to fight Michael Bisping for the 185-pound title since early 2017, with the two even meeting in a press conference this March.

But when St-Pierre continued to insist he couldn’t fight until sometime after October, UFC President Dana White called a hasty halt to the bout, saying the ‘ship had sailed’ and that Bisping would fight the winner of UFC 213’s Robert Whittaker vs. Yoel Romero interim title fight while giving St-Pierre a shot at the winner of UFC 214’s welterweight title bout between Tyron Woodley and Demain Maia. When that fight failed to deliver, however, that ship sailed back into port, with Bisping ‘announcing’ it for November 4’s UFC 214 from Madison Square Garden on last week’s UFC Tonight.

It wasn’t yet official, but apparently, it is now. St- Pierre posted this picture of him signing his bout agreement on Facebook page today:St-Pierre’s return, while wholly an awaited one since he vacated the title following his win over Hendricks, has become a controversial topic in the sport of MMA, as a large majority of the fanbase have criticized Bisping for not taking on the top contenders at 185 pounds since winning the belt from Luke Rockhold in June 2016.

It may be true that he only holds one title defense over a then-No. 14-ranked and now retired Dan Henderson, but the middleweight arena is now lacking a clear contender thanks to Whittaker, who knocked out Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and beat Romero while significantly injuring his knee to clear out of the top of the division for the time being.

That leaves “The Count” with no other contender than the fight that he’s wanted all along. But is it the one you want as a fan?